Passing Ships
by Aiwritingfic
Summary: Hikaru wakes up in the middle of the night, but someone else is awake too. Hikaru, Ogata, 650 words, gen.


First posted on my LJ writing archive on April 27, 2007.

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**Title**: Passing Ships  
**Fandoms**: Hikaru no Go  
**Characters**: Hikaru, Ogata  
**Wordcount/Rating/Warnings**: 650+ words / gen / none  
**Summary**: Hikaru wakes up in the middle of the night, but someone else is awake too.  
**Spoilers/Author's Notes**: Written from 3:40 am to 4:10 am. Like Hikaru, I woke up and didn't know why. Maybe now that this is out of my head I can go to sleep again.

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Hikaru woke up to a quiet room filled with the soft sounds of Touya Akira's light breathing and the hum of the hotel air conditioner. His heart was pounding and his head throbbed with his pulse. _Sai_, he thought, lying in bed, feeling the sour, bitter taste in his mouth.

Touya was still sleeping, from the glance Hikaru gave as he looked across the room. Try as he might, Hikaru couldn't recall why he had woken up besides Sai's name, and that troubled him. Lying there, he couldn't go back to sleep again, so instead, he sat up, slipped quietly into hotel-issue paper slippers, grabbed one of the magnetic cards on the side table, and let himself out of the room for a breath of fresh air.

The hotel lobby wasn't deserted at 4am, which should have surprised Hikaru but somehow didn't. Ogata lifted his head from the newspaper he was reading and gave Hikaru a look. Instead of the twenty questions Hikaru half-expected, Ogata merely jerked his head at the sofa not too far away. Hikaru sat, but didn't do much else. He merely looked blankly ahead, unfocused and unseeing.

He vaguely registered the sound of newsprint rustling softly in the distance, until something pressed itself into his consciousness. Aware of a light prickling on his neck, he finally blinked and looked up again. Ogata was watching him with an unreadable expression, eyes hidden behind those shaded glasses he wore. Hikaru, boldened by sleep (or the lack of it), watched back, and they sat that way for some time.

"What?" Hikaru finally asked, unnerved enough to open his mouth.

"Some people smoke when they have nightmares," Ogata said. Only then did Hikaru notice the pack of cigarettes on the table before Ogata, and the lit cigarette dangling from the Juudan's fingers.

Hikaru shook his head. "Thanks, but no thanks." Ogata gave him another searching look, but nodded. After another moment, Hikaru decided maybe it was safe to ask a question, and he did so promptly. "What sort of nightmares do you have?" Hikaru asked. Then his mind woke up enough to remind him that Ogata Juudan was likely far more awake than Hikaru was, and that asking questions like this was a sure way to be grilled about Sai when his defenses were down.

Ogata had stilled now, and he was watching Hikaru over the top of the newspaper. Hikaru fidgeted. After what felt like an eternity, the corners of Ogata's mouth turned up a little. "Go to bed, Shindou-kun," he said. He seemed to want to say more, but didn't.

Hikaru nodded, standing up, covering a sleepy yawn. As he turned, he looked back at Ogata, who had, Hikaru suspected, been looking at the same page of newsprint for a while now. With a slight shock, Hikaru realized he had been down here thirty minutes. Three steps away, Hikaru turned, and Ogata looked up at the silence.

"Do you think they're happy?" Hikaru said, softly. "Whoever you're thinking about, I mean."

Ogata looked taken aback for half a second, before his face smoothed back into the usual coolly unexpressive countenance he always wore. "I would like to think so," he said. His eyes were now piercing and sharp, and Hikaru shivered, waking up completely.

"Oh. Okay. I mean, I hope so too. Er, well, then ... ehehe, look at the time. I'm going back to bed. Good night--er, morning--er--" Hikaru backed away, and when he judged the distance to be safe, he turned and did not run (that was merely a brisk walk) to the elevators, feeling Ogata's eyes on his back every step of the way. He'd have to avoid Ogata tomorrow, Hikaru thought with a groan.

He fell asleep within minutes of lying down again, but his dreams were now of Ogata's cigarettes and light wisps of smoke curling upwards to frame eyes that seemed as old as Sai's.

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As always, comments/criticism welcomed!  



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